Battle of Stone Houses
|result=Kichai victory |combatant2=Kichai |combatant1=Texas Rangers |commander2=unknown |commander1=William M. Eastland A. B. Van Benthusen |strength2=150 to 180 |strength1=18 |casualties2=about 50 killedodmp.org |casualties1=10 killed |map_type = Texas |latitude = 33.431650 |longitude = -98.457407 |map_caption = Location within Texas |map_label = Stone Houses Battlefield }} The Battle of Stone Houses was a skirmish between Texas Rangers and a band of Kichai Indians which took place on November 10, 1837. The skirmish, which took place ten miles south of what is now Windthorst, Texas, was named for three stone mounds near the battlefield which appeared to the Indians to be small houses.Loftin, Jack O.: Battle of Stone Houses - TSHA Handbook of Texas Online Background A group of Kichai raided Fort Smith, Texas on the Little River sometime early in October 1837.Minor, David: Fort Smith, Texas - TSHA Handbook of Texas Online On the 13th, a company of Texas Rangers, led by Captain William Eastland, pursued them up the Colorado River; however, the Rangers soon lost the trail.Cutrer, Thomas W.: William M. Eastland - TSHA Handbook of Texas Online Captain Eastland then began quarreling with Lieutenant A. B. Van Benthusen, and as a result the company separated. Van Benthusen took seventeen men north with him, and located the Indians' trail on November 1. They then continued north to the Brazos River. On November 3, near what was to become Fort Belknap, the Rangers found a band of Cherokee and Delawares being led by a Kichai guide, who was immediately killed. The others were spared when they claimed to be friends to all Texans and enemies of the Comanches. Skirmish On November 10, the Rangers encountered the Kichais, who had stopped fleeing and were primed instead for an attack. It is said that some of the Cherokee and Delawares who were present attempted to mediate peace, but one of the Rangers, Felix McClusky, attacked and killed an Indian. McClusky was immediately reprimanded, and replied that he would kill any Indian for a plug of tobacco; he then proceeded to show one which he had taken from the dead man. This infuriated the Indians, who attacked them. The Rangers abandoned their horses and ran to a shallow ravine, where they sought protection. The Kichais lost their leader in their first attack, but retired to elect a new one and soon took up the battle again. Fighting, often at close quarters, continued for two hours, after which the Kichais decided to set the prairie on fire and thus smoke out the Rangers. The Rangers charged through the smoke and the Indians, escaping into woods nearby. Four died in battle before the fire; six more were killed while fleeing. The eight that survived arrived at the settlement on the Sabine River on November 27. Having lost all of their horses and equipment, they had walked the entire way. The site of the Skirmish of Stone Houses received a historic marker in 1970.The Stone Houses: From Windthorst, take US 281 5 miles south, then 5 miles south on Highway 16: Texas marker #5432 | http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/map/viewform.asp?atlas_num=5009005432 References Stone Houses Category:Texas–Indian Wars Stone Houses, Battle of Category:Conflicts in 1837 Category:1830s in Texas